1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rear under body structure of an automobile, and more particularly to a rear under body structure provided with a fuel tank.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional rear under body structure of an automobile, a structure in which a fuel tank 72 is disposed beneath a rear seat 70, as shown in FIG. 17, is generally adopted. In this rear under body structure, however, the height H1 of the rear seat 70 from the ground is high, and in a case where a rear windshield 74 is provided at a lower position (the position indicated by a phantom line in FIG. 17), a head portion 78A of an occupant 78 abuts against the rear windshield 74. Hence, there has been a drawback in that restrictions are imposed on the styling of the rear windshield 74 and its peripheral components. For this reason, a structure disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 93125/1989 has been devised as a rear under body structure for overcoming this drawback.
As shown in FIG. 18, in this rear under body structure, a fuel tank 82 is disposed on the rear side, as viewed in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, of a seat back 80A of a rear seat 80. For this reason, the height H2 of the rear seat 80 from the ground is low, so that this arrangement does not impose restrictions on the styling of a back windshield 84 and its peripheral components.
With this rear under body structure, however, the fuel tank 82 is disposed on the upper surface of a rear flower pan 86. Accordingly, since the center of gravity of the rear body becomes disadvantageously high due to the weight of the fuel tank 82, there has been a drawback in that the steering stability declines. Particularly in a front-engine front-drive (FF) vehicle in which the weight is distributed more heavily on the front wheels, since the center of gravity of the rear body becomes high, a shortage of traction of the rear wheels tends to be noticeable.